Kareem Abdul Jabbar

onFebruary 19, 2014

. What I found out was – Hakeem Olajuwon. Kareem tends to get a bit more credit because of the rings and stacked up stats and MVP awards but he played in a situation that allowed him to rack up those awards. First off, he played with the two greatest PG's of all time in Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson. When he was with the Lakers he had Magic setting him up and also had James Worthy as well and two are both top 50 greatest players ever. Hakeem wasn't given nearly as much help throughout his career and made due with what he was given and that is to counter people who say Kareem based off accomplishments. I think Hakeem was the better player all around and before I get to that I want to talk about how he is the more clutch player and how he made due with what he was given like I stated earlier. During the 1994-1995 NBA season his team had the 6th best record at 47-35 in the west. Hakeem come playoff time then turned in what would be the most pressured playoff run that a player and his team have ever had to endure in the history of the game in my opinion. First he had to play the Jazz in round 1 who had a record of 60-22 and home court advantage. He had to go up against the legendary duo of John Stockton and Karl Malone and prevailed even in the eliminated game of game 5. Game 1: Hakeem: 45pts, 8rebs, 6ast, 3blk, 2stl Malone: 25pts, 14rebs, 4ast Stockton: 28pts, 10ast Game 2: Hakeem: 27pts, 7rebs, 4ast, 3blk, 2stl Malone: 28pts, 17rebs, 2ast Stockton: 12pts, 12ast Game 3: Hakeem: 30pts, 10rebs, 3ast, 5blk Malone: 32pts, 19rebs, 5ast Stockton: 11pts, 13ast Game 4: Hakeem: 40pts, 8rebs, 3ast Malone: 31pts, 6rebs, 5ast Stockton: 26pts, 11ast Game 5 (Elimination): Hakeem: 33pts, 10rebs, 4ast Malone: 35pts, 10rebs, 3ast Stockton: 12pts, 5ast *Hakeem shot a much better fg% than Malone the whole series. Then after escaping a game 5 elimination game by 4 pts against the Jazz and needing two 40pt explosions in the series to do so he had to face the 59-23 Suns. In that series his team trailed the series 3-1 and Hakeem led his team to a game 7 and a victory. After losing game 4 and scoring 38 points and Hakeem's team now being down 3-1, Hakeem destroyed the entire series to give his team 3 straight wins and averaged 30ppg, 11. 7rpg, 2. 3bpg, and 5. 7apg for the rest of the series along with a 1 point win in game 7 to advance against David Robinson's 62-20 win spurs, in a series that Hakeem held Robinson to 42%fg shooting while putting up these numbers during the 7 game series. Game 1 vs Spurs: 27pts, 8rebs, 6ast, 5blks Game 2 vs Spurs: 41pts, 16rebs, 4ast, 2blks Game 3 vs Spurs: 43pts, 11rebs, 4ast, 5blks Game 4 vs Spurs: 20pts, 14rebs, 5ast, 3blks Game 5 vs Spurs: 42pts, 9rebs, 8ast, 5blks Game 6 vs Spurs: 39pts, 17rebs, 3ast, 5blks In an important game 6, David Robinson was hounded by Hakeem's defense to shoot only 6-17 from the field. Then in the finals Hakeem's rockets sweep Shaq's Magic who had a 57 win season. Hakeem posted 32. 8ppg, 11. 3rpg, and 5. 5apg vs Shaq's 28ppg, 12. 5rpg, and 6. 3apg series to win he series and win the title. *Hakeem had no home court throughout the entire playoffs. * Trailed a series 3-1 * Went 4-0 in elimination games. * Out played 2 all time great centers. With that said, Hakeem was able to do all this without a great PG like Kareem and without HOF talent that were in their prhymes and Hakeem found a way to get another ring. Hakeem had better moves in the post that Kareem, Hakeem was also a better defender and won defensive player of the year and became the all time leader in blocks in an era that had much more athletic players. And Hakeem played the passing lanes better and is among the top 10 in steals yet he is a center. He was able to switch onto guards in pick and rolls and guard them better than Kareem could. Kareem had him in rebounds a bit and assists, but Hakeem was better on offense, and defense and with the above information along with other things done in Hakeem's career he was the better pressure player and more clutch. Source(s): I'magine what Hakeem could have done playing with Oscar or Magic.